] Some experts divide the opposition into three categories:
] the moustaches, the beards, and the clean-shaven.

Aka the former generals (and this article includes the "disappeared from Denmark" Khazraji on that list); the Islamic groups; and the pro-Western businessmen/diplomats.

Gulf News Online: Iraqi opposition groups jockey for position, categorized by facial hair

] There are two suspected cases here in Missouri, one in
] Springfield and one in St. Louis. But the State Health
] Department says in those cases, the individuals are no
] longer showing any symptoms.

According to information from April 1st, these were a 37-year-old man in St. Louis, and a 41-year-old man in Springfield. I've been unable to locate any information as to how they came in contact with the disease, but it's good to know that there have been no new reported cases in Missouri over the last few weeks:
 http://www.kmiz.com/news/headlines/281716.html

SARS Update - Missouri

] In March 2002, the Saudi government daily Al-Riyadh published a
] blood libel authored by Dr. Umayma Ahmad Al-Jalahma of King
] Faysal University in Al-Dammam, Saudi Arabia, that included a
] graphic description of how Jews supposedly murdered non-Jewish
] youths to obtain blood for pastries for the Purim holiday
 . . .
] The newspaper's editor, Turki Al-Sudeiri, a member of the Saudi
] royal family, published an apology for the article and fired its
] author. In his apology, Al-Sudeiri wrote: "I checked the article
] and found it not fit for publication because it was not based on
] scientific or historical facts, and it even contradicted the
] rituals of all the known religions in the world, including
] Hinduism and Buddhism."
]
] "The information included in the article was no different from
] the nonsense always coming out in the 'yellow literature,' whose
] reliability is questionable. The understanding of this serious
] mistake escaped Ms. Al-Jalahma, as did the understanding that
] Jews everywhere in the world are one thing, while Jews belonging
] to the Zionist movement that acts to annihilate the Palestinians
] are something else, and completely different. In Israel itself
] there are moderate Jews . . .

This is in a collection of other translations by MEMRI, profiling how various Arab papers and governments are dealing with anti-semitism. Some are denouncing it, whereas in other places there are still gatherings and conventions of "holocaust-deniers", but at least there's a growing amount of internal debate in the Arab media (according to MEMRI), with some intellectuals denouncing the anti-semitic stands as unhelpful to dealing with the real issue of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

MEMRI concludes:

] Over the last two years, there has been a change in the attitude
] of some shapers of Arab public opinion towards antisemitic
] statements. This change may reflect the impact of translating
] material from the Arab media into Western languages. This
] exposure of the material in the Western media, and the resulting
] criticism in the West, particularly the U.S., in the media,
] government, and Congress, induces shapers of Arab public opinion
] to back down from their antisemitic stances – or at least to
] refrain from making antisemitic statements.

Saudi Editor Apologized for Anti-Semitic Column

] By his senior year, Bush had found a port of refuge, a
] place where at least some of the outside world could be
] shut out. Skull and Bones was Yale's most elite secret
] society, priding itself on tapping 15 of the college's
] best and brightest in everything from academics to sports
] to music. Bush, by all accounts, was one of the "legacy"
] slots, a recruit whose father had been a Bonesman.
]
] In his Bones class was the head of the Whiffenpoofs, Yale's noted
] choral group; a Rhodes scholar; an Olympic gold medal swimmer;
] the black captain of the soccer team; and a Jordanian and an
] Orthodox Jew who would generate lively discussions about the
] Mideast just months after the Six-Day War between Israel and its
] neighbors.

For anyone who's interested in more biographical information on our current president. Note: I am not implying that the "S&B" society is good or bad... Just passing along an interesting link.

Bush, and Yale's 'Skull & Bones' Secret Society

] ... a thoroughgoing system to make repression pay was
] meticulously documented. In the last days before the city
] fell, the party attempted to remove the paperwork,
] filling a truck container (disguised with Red Cross and
] Red Crescent stickers) with incriminating materials. But
] there was nowhere to run, and now the contents spill into
] the courtyard, where looters and scavengers pick through
] the debris

Caution: This can be a disturbing article to read, with detailed descriptions of torture, executions and other atrocities.

The Saddam Files

] According to Cole, there are 45 "supercentenarians" --
] people 110 or older -- worldwide, 34 women and 11 men. The
] world's oldest person, according to the Gerontology
] Research Group, is Kamato Hongo, of Japan, who is 115.

Carpe Diem . . .

America's oldest person dies at 113 in California

] With a terse announcement in Wednesday morning
] newspapers, Beijing closed all its primary and secondary
] schools until at least May 7 because of widespread SARS,
] and it said that the 1.7 million affected students should
] study at home using a newly improvised online educational
] service.
 . . .
] In a remarkable homage to the recent, rapid spread of Internet
] use here, the order closing down schools said the authorities
] were opening an "Educational Committee Online School" to help
] students study at home. The site is "providing online question-
] answering and review materials for Beijing's 1.7 million primary
] and secondary school students," the report said. The web address
] is www.bjedu.gov.cn.

Ironic that a low-tech biological bug may be what really catapults China into increased use of the high-tech internet.

The English version of the "Beijing Educational Network and Information Center," btw, is at:
 http://www1.bjedu.gov.cn/english/internet/index.htm

Beijing sends its children home to study on the internet

] Beneath the football boots and shinpads in the boot of
] Benmerzouga's car, police found equipment for "skimming"
] account details from credit cards and dozens of
] unembossed Visa and Mastercards awaiting forgery.
]
] In his flat were doctored Pakistani visas, a camouflaged
] solar battery pack and a list of parts for a field radio.
] Analysis of computers revealed extensive coded e-mail
] traffic with Pakistan.

"coded e-mail traffic" -- another tantalizing reference to encryption, but without details.

Al Qaeda Encryption Reference

] Members of four- or five-man cells led normal lives,
] avoided contact with well-known Islamic organizations and
] were not even known to be active members of mosques in
] Singapore. They used code names and code numbers,
] communicated by Internet e-mail, encrypted their computer
] diskettes and used prepaid mobile phone cards to avoid
] detection.

I'd love to learn what kind of encryption they were using . . .

Al Qaeda in the Philippines

] Saudi Arabia, home to Islam's holiest shrines, has
] stopped issuing umrah, or minor pilgrimage, visas to
] Muslims in the Far East because of fears over Severe
] Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), an official said
] Wednesday

Saudi Stops Mecca Visas for East Asian Muslims